ArcelorMittal Atlantique has developed the DWI UltraLow Aluminium grades to improve the rejection ratesduring the deep drawing of beverage cans. At the time ofindustrialization of this grade, an increase of slivers defectswas recorded. The analysis of these slivers permitted totrace down their origin to the continuous casting powder.The compared analysis of slags during casting, respectivelyon standard DWI and ULA DWI, pointed out infiltrationphenomena and inclusion pick-up. A high viscosity powderwas formulated. An acceptable sliver rate was achievedwith a strong decrease in downstream repaired coils.

A rolling force model of continuous cold rolling mill based on elastic and plastic mechanics was developed and successfully applied in the control system of a 1420 mm cold rolling mill in Baosteel. Considering simplicity and practicability of calculation, stress of elastic zone and plastic zone during the cold rolling process was calculated and analyzed by incorporated simple finite element method and recursive calculating method. Compared with the measured rolling force, the results of the rolling force model are beyond 96.5%. A method for optimizing rolling force by improving reduction, dimension, coefficient of friction, deformation and tension is put forward.

An important task in the structure of the ULCOS program hasbeen to provide a fair and homogeneous comparison amongthe elements of the initial and the short lists of processes,which are candidates to become the ultimate ULCOS,carbon-lean breakthrough steel production processes of thefuture. Eventually, that information is being used to providethe rationale for moving forward in the selection of the futurebest technologies. The CO2 tool, developed within SP9, thesubproject devoted to measuring the sustainability of theproposed ULCOS processes, is one of the key tools workedout but also used to carry out this essential part of the ULCOSprogram.
The CO2 tool is a mass and energy balance model of acomplete steel mill, i.e. a steel mill simulator, which focuseson estimating energy consumption and GHG emissions of ahot mill site. It applies a standard analysis to all the processroutes proposed in the course of the ULCOS program, bynormalizing the size of the site (4 Mt/y), the nature of theraw materials it uses, the scrap input in the steel shop and anumber of other parameters. The tool is fed by process dataof the various plants lined up in the steel mil, which havebeen generated by more detailed models and also arisefrom experimental data, when they are available. The tool ismeant to feed a further tool that compares the production andAbstracts of technical articlesinvestment costs in various scenarios extending until 2050,with a series of mild to strong carbon constraints.
The structure of the tool as well as the results it brought aboutare presented here. The major conclusion is that severalsolutions offer the possibility to cut steel mill emission bymore than 50% compared to the baseline “best technology”steel mill, provided that breakthrough solutions are taken intoaccount, based on the uncoupling of energy savings andCO2 mitigation targets.

The efficiency of dephosphorisation is governed by thethermodynamic behaviour of phosphorus and oxygen in moltenmetal, and P2O5 and FeO in slag. The equilibrium distributionof phosphorus and oxygen, for a wide range of chemicalcompositions simulating the evolution of slag composition duringa typical BOF blow, has been experimentally determined. Amathematical model for estimation of the activity coefficients, asa function of the chemical composition, was also attempted.

The paper aims at giving an overview of galvanizing reactionof steel sheets, highlighting how the solid Fe - liquid Znsystem tends to keep the liquid Zn phase at thermodynamicequilibrium. Reactions occurring with Al free, intermediate Al bearing(typical of GA production), and higher Al bearing (typicalfor GI production) Zn bath are detailed.

Good stability of the steel strip is essential in galvanizinglines, especially in the rapid cooling section before the zincbath, where the strip is cooled and excited by high-speedgas jets.
The process parameters and the design have beeninvestigated in order to characterize the strip vibrationsphenomena and to define optimized solutions for improvingthe cooling performances of present and future galvanizinglines while reducing the strip fluttering in the rapid coolingzone as well as in the cooling tower.

Une innovation majeure est apportée parl’utilisation de gyroscopes laser. PARALIGN®est le premier appareil au monde à utilisercette technique, appelée mesure par inertie,permettant de calculer précisément la positionrelative des rouleaux dans l’espace, sans viséeoptique, sans ligne laser à installer le long dela machine.

Research conducted on biomass for Ulcos (“Ultra-Low CO2 Steelmaking” European Integrated Project)has progressively focused on charcoal supply fromtropical eucalyptus plantations. The sustainability of suchplantations is being investigated from the viewpoint oftheir carbon, water and nutrient budgets: they must allbe neutral or positive. Field research is producing resultsat the tree or stand level in several sites of Congo andBrazil, while a spatial model is developed to identifythe conditions of biomass neutrality at the scale of theforest ecosystem. The productivity of biomass has beenanalyzed through the description of practices along theAbstracts of technical articlesvarious supply-schemes that competitively feed the steelindustry in Brazil and the identification of bottlenecks forfurther expansion.

Surface corner cracks are sometimes observed on slabs of highstrength low alloyed steel grades, requiring expensive scarfing.To avoid surface crack formation, we can act on the steel intrinsicductility loss through the limitation of S and N contents: S < 30ppm and N < 40 ppm are well adapted thresholds. A Ti/Nratio higher than 3.6 and a limitation of Al*N product leadto a significant improvement of the quality results. In addition,the continuous casting process must be optimized. It aims atlimiting the thermomechanical strains faced by the slab surfaceduring solidification and cooling, particularly when the slabcorner temperature is in the range of the ductility trough. Themain process actuators are the mould powder, the secondarycooling curves and the limitation of the misalignments inthe top part of the caster, especially the transitions betweenthe mould foot-rolls, the vertical and the bending segments.

The principle of mass flow AGC of tandem cold mill as wellas advanced mass flow AGC are introduced and analyzed.Based on advanced mass flow AGC, the effect of laservelocimeters to jointly control strip's thickness is analyzed.On the basis of the advanced mass flow AGC systemof tandem cold mill in Baosteel, the characteristics andmerits of advanced mass flow AGC in application of laservelocimeters are analyzed in detail.

Over the last decades the steel industries worldwide haveevolved more or less independently from each other, inthe EU and in North America in particular. A competitivecomparison of two different Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF)maintenance operations is presented, discussing various costfigures in a theoretical case study.

The links between defect occurrence and process parametershave been identified on the basis of the recorded defectposition and severity level. The results of detailed analysisreveal the competition between oxidation and reductionphenomena and the effect of strip surface after pickling onstrip oxidation. Industrial trials have validated the effect ofthe effective process parameters on the coating quality.

The “cost tool” is a model that calculates the CAPEX & OPEXof the ULCOS routes. Along with the “CO2 tool”, it providesone of the key elements necessary for selecting the bestroutes: it was used for decision making when the programmoved from phase I, where 80 different routes whereunder investigation, to phase II, where 5 routes only arestudied further; it now provides updated information on theon-going routes of the last phases of the program. OPEX arecalculated by an extension of the CO2 tool, based on plantby plant simulation of the flow sheet, and CAPEX result fromthe concepts provided by the line SPs scaled by standardchemical engineering design rules. The tool is embedded in asophisticated futures studies framework, using the same longterm(2050) scenarios as the economic modeling of energyfutures carried out by LEPII [E. Bellevrat, P. Menanteau - Scenarios and economic mod-eling, Proceedings, ULCOS-4, Essen, October 2008.], which assumes a series offutures ranging from mild to strong CO2 constraint. This givesan unusual vision of when and how the CO2 externalitywill be internalized in the economy. Indeed, as claimedby the Steel Industry, the existing process routes are veryefficient and, therefore, in the context of prices encounteredsince 2000, there are not any no-regret ULCOS routes. Theselection of ULCOS routes has been carried out in coherencewith the tool conclusions, although other, non-model basedconsiderations have also been taken on board.


The constraints of CAL are spread over narrow heat cycles,sensitive strip formats, recurrent product size changes,flexible lines and productivity. An up-to-date mathematicalmodel, coupled with an advanced transition managementhas been designed to synchronously control the furnaceequipments as well as the line speed. It allows processreaction forecast on the current and coming strips throughdeep thermal modelling and it generates the optimal routesfor driving the transitions.

A Material Flow Analysis (MFA) of cadmium for Europe (EU 27)is described in this paper. In general the purpose of this MFA is toprovide a reliable set of time series data on the flows and stocks ofcadmium as they pass through the European economy.
For the data on cadmium flows in Europe various sources,statistics and surveys were taken into account. Data on importand export statistics, production and consumption of cadmiumuse, hidden flows of cadmium, the recovery and recycling ofcadmium, especially batteries, as well as disposal and losses wereconsidered.
The study includes the whole life cycle of cadmium, startingfrom the raw material extraction, which is the basis for the metalproduction. Cadmium, as it is produced as a by-product of thezinc, lead and copper refinery, is further treated throughoutvarious processes. Within the production and manufacturing,pre-consumer scrap is returned directly to the main productionprocess. Afterwards the cadmium is used within various products,e.g. batteries. After the use phase, having reached the end-of-lifewithin a specific application field, cadmium is recycled. What is notcollected for recycling or returned to the recycling system, is lost inthe environment. Finally, during the recycling process, cadmium isreturned to the cadmium cycle as post-consumer scrap and whatcould not be recycled is disposed.
One important outcome of the MFA of cadmium was the gainedknowledge on available data and data sources within thecadmium industry. In particular, the inconsistency between thedata sources became obvious. Nevertheless a comprehensivesystem was established which summarizes the cadmium flowsin Europe and set up a MFA model as well as the linkages toavailable data sources of the cadmium industry. In addition tothe data management system, the data gaps of relevance wereidentified to support future activities in this field.

The original viscoplastic framework at low homologoustemperature is based on the coupling of the E. Rauch'soriginal approach for mixing athermal and viscous termin the flow stress of ferritic steels, a general viscoplasticpotential and a microstructure based quasi-static behaviorlaw. The formalism gives accurate results in excellentagreement with available experimental results with only twoadjusted parameters, over a wide range of strain rates andtemperatures.

Strip surface state before zinc bath immersion is linked totemperature homogeneity and gas atmosphere compositionin each furnace section. Many different gas metal reactionsoccur in the furnace that may improve the strip heatingrate or introduce surface defects, depending on theirlocalization. Gas flow models of the preheating-heating sections with hightemperature variations have been developed. They pointout temperature gradients and the competition betweennatural convection and forced convection. A model for gasexchanges between all furnace sections has been built andvalidated by gas tracing trials on industrial lines. The effect of line process parameters such as line speed,strip format and gas injection condition in all furnacessections is reported.

A critical evaluation is reported of the features andproperties of thick ferrules (2.25%Cr-1%Mo steel)realized through different technological routes: forging,hot rolling and cold bending. The characterization ofthe ferrules has been performed with metallographicobservations, mechanical tests and texture crystallographicanalysis by SEM-EBSD. The results show the effect ofthe various processes on mechanical performance andhighlight the associated microstructural modifications theybring about.

ULCORED is the concept suggested by SP 12 to meet thedemand of reduced CO2 emission using iron ore and gasbased direct reduction for steelmaking. The concept includesthe use of 100% oxygen, POX (partial oxidation) insteadof reformers, shifter for production of CO2 free reduction/excess gas and the reducing agent being either natural gas or syngas from coal/biomass.

In metals industry Mass Flow Analysis (MFA) has a long tradition.Combined with scenario calculation this method can for examplebe used to estimate the future development of scrap availabilityand metal composition. Despite the unknown inaccuracy ofsuch calculations what regional distribution of material, lifetimeor growth rates concerns highly valuable information can begenerated to support the industrial business strategy.
When particular products or metal applications in functionalunits become the scope of such calculations besides massflow often energy consumption and emissions appear on theagenda. And, unfortunately, metals are recycled (of courseonly from a methodological and not from a resource point ofview). At that point MFA crosses the border from being a staticsnapshot of an existing system towards a time depending lifecycle approach. Besides volume, quality, and location time isintroduced as a fourth dimension and the dilemma starts. Inthe past one approach was to develop depreciation modelsto allocate the expenditures of mining and primary metalproduction of Copper and Aluminium according to the recycledcontent. But latter is even more disputable since metal recyclingcannot be treated as an alternative production route achievingthe original properties and chemical composition. And, as aresult of its electrochemical behavior, each metal cycle lookscompletely different compared to any other. Consequentlythe general acceptance of the existing allocation methods forrecycling in life cycle models is still low.
In case of Aluminium the historic primary metal productioncumulates to an amount of almost 900 million tons worldwide.With the aid of recycling 75% of this material could be conservedin the current inventory in use. As this stock significantly contributesto todays and future's raw material supply the following questionarises: Can metallic materials have a defined history andtherewith an ecological hereditary debt, which will be reducedby further recycling cycles? If the answer would be yes, ona highly aggregated level, another more practical questionwould be whether such a credit should be based on the historicexpenditures of primary production or better considering thefuture recycling potential of the inventory in use. In these casesrecycling credits are either overestimated or underestimateddepending on the lifetime and herewith the deviation fromcurrent End of Life recycling practices.